Five-starboy Caluori, Saints day in the sun and a tunnel tussle - Prem talking points

By

BBC Sport rugby union news reporter

Whatever they are offering, ask for more.

Exeter confirmed last week that a takeover offer is on the table for club.

Whether they were tuning in from the United States or, as in the case of Black Knight board member Ryan Caswell, at Sandy Park in person, their prospective new owners were served up a fantastic advert of what the league can be.

The Chiefs were on the losing side – Fin Smith dancing around England team-mate Immanuel Feyi -Waboso on the final play of the game for the winning score – but a superb toe-to-toe contest in front of a sun-bathed, 12,000-strong crowd was prime sporting 'product'.

Northampton caught the mood as well.

Henry Pollock unveiled a new try celebration, lobbing the ball in the air before 'shooting' it down with a mimed rifle. Number eight Callum Chick showed a fine bit of slipper, landing a 50:22. Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson seemed to motion to ask the home fans to find the knock-on in Smith's game-winning score after the visitors had had an earlier try ruled out.

Tom Litchfield's performance at outside centre will give Dowson more reason to smile.

The 24-year-old made the most metres of any of the Saints backline in their win over Saracens at Tottenham Stadium last time out in the league and was a muscular, intelligent presence once again.

The result, combined with Bristol's win over Gloucester on Friday night, adds some much-needed intrigue to the top-four conundrum.

The Bears are four points off Exeter.

Northampton sit top of the pile still, but the fixture list will test their grip on the summit.

They host second-placed Bath next (albeit the visitors seem set to rest some stars with a looming Champions Cup semi-final against Bordeaux-Begles), before travelling to in-form Leicester and then hosting Bristol.

Ellis Genge and Afolabi Fasogbon brought the rumble once again at Ashton Gate.

Their front-row dust-up was a brilliant subplot in last season's corresponding fixture, with Under-20 World Cup-winning Fasogbon getting under Genge's skin at scrum-time and giving the England and Bristol keystone a cheeky, cheery wave off the pitch when he was replaced early in Gloucester's 44-41 win., external

Friday night's rematch went the way of the older man however.

Genge went looking for Fasogbon after Bristol won a scrum penalty, shouting the odds. As the teams trooped off at half-time, the pair were at the heart of a sudden tunnel tussle.

And when Fasogbon was replaced a couple of minutes before Genge, the Ashton Gate crowd waved him on his way.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't take it personally a few years back when he waved at me when I was walking off the pitch," Genge said on TNT Sports., external

"I'm sometimes tarnished as a hothead, but I think the animosity and violence in rugby is what people crave and we should embody it, not shy away from it.

"He is a young talent and I'm sure he will have me again at some point, but I am buzzing with our tight five. We won that battle."

The two could be on the same side this summer.

With Will Stuart and Trevor Davison recovering from Achilles tendon and knee injuries respectively, England's tight-head options behind Joe Heyes are a little sparse for England's summer fixtures against South Africa, Fiji and Argentina.

Genge's Bristol team-mate George Kloska, picked to start at three ahead of Fasogbon for England A earlier this year, might have something to say about that too though.

Billy Searle was lining up a gimme conversion after Gabriel Hamer-Webb had strolled in for an alarmingly easy fourth try of the afternoon, when some late intrigue was injected into the final quarter of Leicester's 62-3 win over Newcastle.

George Martin, who has been sidelined since Febuary 2025 with various shoulder and knee injuries took to a rugby field once more.

The second row has spent some of his rehabilitation signing for Saracens for next season, but was still greeted warmly by the Tigers faithful.

It was a perfect game to be reintroduced into top-flight rugby.

Newcastle has long since given up the ghost. Martin trucked up a couple of balls just outside his 22m, had a nibble at a breakdown, took a couple of lineouts and showed some smart hands to drop it out the back to Orlando Bailey.

England boss Steve Borthwick will have been watching every bit intently. During Martin's time out, England have faithfully included his name at the bottom of every squad announcement as one of those in their thoughts, but out of fitness.

After such a long absence, are five rounds of regular-season matches, potentially another two beyond, enough to propel him into contention to face South Africa, who he so memorably tore into in the 2023 Rugby World Cup semi-finals?

Firstly, let's excuse Tom O'Flaherty.

The wing was the one bright spot in Sale's afternoon, taking the fight to Saracens with spirit and wit. Asher Opoku-Fordjour, packing down on his less accustomed loosehead side, had some nice fast-twitch moments and George Ford continued playing flat and fast.

Other than that it was as grim for Sale against Saracens as an 85-19 scoreline suggests.

They were desperately short of incision and invention in attack, but the most glaring void in their game was in defence.

Saracens made 14 entries into the home 22m and came away with a try from all but one of those visits.

Sale actually shaded the territory battle (57% to 43%), but their defence was so lacking in conviction and organisation, Saracens strolled them as through it was a semi-structured training session.

There are plenty of candidates for the most egregious example, but perhaps the worst was the way that Fergus Burke, not the most noted running threat from fly-half, slapped aside tackles to saunter through and set up his side's ninth try and Noah Caluori's fourth.

Sale used to pride themselves on their defence. A little over a year ago they went to Ashton Gate and 'nilled' an in-form Bristol Bears in a supreme performance.

Byron McGuigan orchestrated that, but the then-defence coach has since departed to England and seemingly taken some of the heart out of Sale's rearguard with him.

A big summer lies ahead for the Sharks, who made the play-offs in four of their five previous seasons but have won only three of 13 league matches this season.

A big future lies ahead for Caluori, who dominated opposite number Tom Roebuck in the air and beat the cover with one-handed dunk dives for two of his tries.

The spelling on the back of his shirt may have been awry, but whoever is in charge will get plenty of practice in getting it right in the years to come.

The most important signing that Harlequins might make this summer could be in their medical department.

They had 27 players out through injury before heading to Bath on Saturday, with head coach Jason Gilmore saying that emergency short-term front-row signings were needed so there were enough bodies in to fulfil fixtures and keep training viable.

Then, once they got to the Recreation Ground, it got worse. Luke Northmore pulled out before kick-off. Nick David and Cadan Murley were injured on 20 minutes. Fly-half Jarrod Evans copped another shoulder knock on 56 minutes.

Gilmore has spoken about robustness being one of the key qualities he wants his squad to develop over the summer.

Alex Dombrandt has shown plenty of that, providing precious go-forward against the champions. Jack Kenningham, in the league-wide top 10 for both tackles made and turnover won, has too.

But Harlequins, who have signed Northampton skipper George Furbank and Bristol second row James Dun for next season, need more of the same from more of their squad.